Friday, 21 April 2017

Hi Everyone
The birthday flower for the month of May is Lily of the Valley, a delicate white flower with broad leaves and a very distinctive scent. Despite it's popularity in gardens and flower arrangements they are not very common in crafting, however, I did find a lovely stamp and die set which I have used for two of the cards.We are giving away one of these stamp and die sets this week, to be in with a chance to win all you have to do is comment on this post telling me which of the three cards you like best and why. Good Luck!

I used traditional colors for this first card, leaving the flowers white. Stamping onto white card means you don't have to try and color the flowers just add a little shading.

I went for a tent fold base which is cut from white card measuring 14.5cm x 10.5cm, layered with green card and green paper from a marble effect paper pad. I die cut a tag shape from white card and stamped the flower in black ink then colored the leaves, stems, ground and the tiny little ladybird. I die cut a bigger tag shape from green card and then hand trimmed it to make a smaller border around the white tag.

The greeting is stamped in white on to the same green card and both the tag and the greeting are attached with foam pads to give a bit of dimension. Some white adhesive pearl swirls and an organza bow finish it off.

The next card uses the same stamp but this time I cut the flowers out with the matching die. Although lily of the valley is mainly a white flower there are some pink varieties which made for a nice change to the color scheme. The rest of the card is very simple with the greeting stamped inside the card and visible through an acetate window.

I used a 6 x 6 inch white blank card for the base and die cut a square shape from the middle of it. I cut a piece of pink card slightly smaller than the card blank and die cut a slightly bigger square from the center of that. I cut a piece of acetate a bit bigger than the aperture in the pink card and sandwiched this between the pink card and the base to create the window.

The flowers are stamped in black on white card, colored with marker pens, die cut with the matching die and attached to the card front as shown with adhesive foam pads.

The greeting is stamped inside the card in black ink and some green adhesive crystals finish it off.

To add a bit of variety I wanted to make a card that didn't use the Lily of the Valley stamp and die set. Luckily my daughter was home from university for the Easter holidays so she put her quilling skills into action and made this beautiful flower for me. The rabbit dies were still on my desk from making an Easter card, they are so cute I couldn't resist including them again.

I used a tent fold base again cut to 14.5cm x 10.5cm. I cut a slightly smaller piece of pale blue card and inked the top area with white ink to create some 'clouds' in the sky. I die cut two strips of grass from green card and attached this to the bottom of the blue card. I cut three bunny rabbits from white card, colored them with marker pens and positioned them in the grass. My daughter used green and white quilling strips to make the flower and a silver Happy Birthday peel off adds the greeting.

Thank you for visiting, hope you like the cards, I look forward to your comments and to announcing the winner of our giveaway next week.
Debbie x

Friday, 7 April 2017

Hi Everyone
I liked the last thank you card and the color scheme so decided to do another card using the Thanks die cutting stencil but this time with a stamped, embossed and inked background for a different look.

I started with a 12.5cm square white card blank and cut a piece of white card a few millimeters smaller. I stamped the Damask pattern onto the white card using a Watermark ink pad and then heat embossed it with gold.

I inked over the embossed pattern with Tattered Rose distress ink creating an ombre effect by leaving the centre lighter than the corners and edges.

I die cut the Thanks from gold card and the background from Coral colored card, the Thanks is glued to the background which in turn is attached to the card front with adhesive foam pads to give a bit of dimension.

I like the way the background to the die cut word helps it stand out against the busy patterned background. Hope you like it, leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Thanks for calling in.
Debbie x

Hi Everyone
I love the marbled background on this card, I saw a similar technique used to make gift wrap and decided to adapt it to use on cards.

I started with a sheet of pink marbled paper from the Marble Effect Paper pad and using a Quickie Glue Pen I drew lines along the pattern of the marbling and then sprinkled gold gilding flake along the glue lines and brushed away the excess. One note of caution, I found that the glue from the pen is wetter than the Flitterglu that I usually use with the gilding flake so had to wait a couple of minutes for it to dry after I had added the flake before I brushed the excess away to stop it smudging.

To assemble the card I used a white A6 card blank and layered that with gold card and then cut a piece of the gilded, marble paper slightly smaller than the gold card and layered that on top. I die cut Thanks from gold card and attached that to the front of the card as shown using adhesive foam pads.

Once you have added the gilding to the marble paper the rest of the card is very quick and easy. The marble paper pad has lots of different colors which would combine with different colors of gilding flake.
I hope you like it and look forward to your comments, thanks for looking in.
Debbie x

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Hi Everyone, as Easter is one of the biggest celebrations in the Christian calendar I wanted to make a a more traditional card. I think this one fits the bill.

I started with a 12.5cm square cream card blank and layered that with a tan colored card and then a sheet from the Vintage Paper Bloc paper pad.

I wanted the cross to be gold but because of the vintage style background paper I didn't want a shiny bright gold. I didn't have anything that just fitted the bill so I decided to make my own. I took a piece of plain card, mine was white but it wouldn't matter what color you used. I used a plastic spatula to spread a very thin layer of Flitterglu across the whole piece of card and then covered that with Chariots of Fire gold gilding flake, used the scoochy foam to brush away the excess and smooth it out and voila a piece of gold card with a slightly distressed finish. I die cut the cross from this gold card and then used the cross die as a stencil to draw round and cut out a background shape for the cross from the same tan colored card as I had used in the first layer. I glued the cross to the cross shaped cut out and then fixed the whole thing to the card using adhesive foam pads.

I stamped the greeting words on to two pieces of cream colored card in gold ink and then heat embossed in gold, I inked around the edges of the two pieces of card and fixed them in place again with adhesive foam pads.

Apart from a few extra minutes to gild the card for the cross the whole thing was pretty quick and easy to put together. I am pleased with the results and hope you like it too.
Thanks for looking in.
Debbie x

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Hi everyoneI just love these cute, bunny rabbit, die cutting stencils, at this time of year they are perfect for Easter cards but they are so sweet they can be used all year round. This is a fun Easter card with all the classic components, a basket, Easter eggs and Easter bunnies.

I used a 12.5 cm square card blank and inked the edges with green, then I got going with the die cutting making three white rabbits, a brown basket, four green leaf fronds and a matching strip of grass border, I stuck a piece of lighter brown paper behind the basket so that you can't see through it and colored the rabbits noses and ears with pink. Next I stuck some gold and silver peel off Easter eggs onto paper, cut them out and coloured them in.I used the same green ink to stamp the greeting and then assembled all the pieces on the card, I used a combination of glue and adhesive foam pads to attach the elements and lift some of them off the card slightly.Materials used:

Saturday, 1 April 2017

Hi Everyone
I have titled this card as a birthday card as I made it for my daughters birthday but you could add any message and change the color scheme to suit your recipient.
I like the fact that the girl and the balloon are separate stamps so you can position the balloon as near or far from the little girl as you want.

I started with a 6 x 6 inch white blank card and envelope and trimmed it to 14 x 14cm, then cut a square of red card slightly smaller and adhered that to the card blank.

The main image is a piece of black card 10 x 11.5cm and white card slightly smaller. I inked the white card with Bundled Sage distress ink across the bottom third, Topaz pigment ink across the middle third and scattered straw distress ink across the top third. I cut a circle from a post it note and used that as a mask in the top right area before inking there. I stamped the little girl with black pigment ink and the balloon in red with it's string in black.

The greeting is stamped in black on white card that has been inked with Topaz and Scattered Straw, mounted on black card 4.75cm square and positioned across the edge of the image area.

The modern look of this Banksy style stamp is perfect for a card for a young person, I was happy with the results and look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for visiting.
Debbie x